CULLOWHEE – Western Carolina University Chancellor John W. Bardo conferred
degrees on approximately 370 students as the university held summer commencement
exercises Friday, Aug. 9.

In her commencement address, Kathy M.C. Ivey, WCU associate professor
of mathematics, spoke to the crowd of graduates, family members and friends
gathered at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center about the importance of
“point of view,” particularly the mathematical point of view that she tries
to impart to her students.

“In almost every one of my classes, there comes a point when someone
will give me an answer and continue with ‘and I guess you want to know
why.’ That’s one of the times when I know that I have succeeded in my goal
to help students learn to think mathematically. A student who recognizes
the importance of justification is one who has picked up one part of a
mathematic point of view,” she said.

“While a student here at Western, each of you has had the opportunity
to think about ideas, events and objects from a variety of points of view,”
Ivey told the graduates. “Your teachers have helped you to look at things
through the lenses that are particular to their disciplines. By using the
different modes of thinking and analyzing that you have encountered, you
can shift your point of view so as to examine a situation from multiple
angles. Which job should you take? When should you continue with your formal
education? The methods that you choose to use in examining your questions
and decisions will ultimately influence the choices that you make,” she
said.

“My hope for you, graduates, is that long after you have forgotten some
specific tidbit of information from a certain class, you will still be
using the different ways of thinking that you have experienced while a
student,” Ivey said.

“What you take away as your education is not just a collection of facts,
skills and techniques that you have studied, but more importantly, the
points of view that you have encountered and the ways of thinking that
you have tried. What you do with them will determine how you see your world
and how you interact in that world,” she said.

“I hope for all of you the success that comes from hard work, persistence
and the ability to look at problems from different points of view.”

Earlier this year, Ivey was recognized as one of The University of North
Carolina system’s premier teachers when she was named one of 16 recipients
of the UNC Board of Governors Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

Among the graduating class at WCU’s Aug. 9 commencement were 22 Jamaican
educators who were awarded master’s degrees in educational supervision,
and another 35 residents of Jamaica who received bachelor’s degrees in
education.

The ranks of graduates also included 23 students who are the first to
receive degrees through Western’s master of science in nursing degree program.

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Last modified: Friday, Aug. 16, 2002
Copyright 2002 by Western Carolina University